Friday, March 01, 2019

Feed the birds...

Early each day to the steps of Saint Paul'sThe little old bird woman comesIn her own special way to the people she callsCome, buy my bags full of crumbs

Come feed the little birds, show them you careAnd you'll be glad if you doTheir young ones are hungryTheir nests are so bareAll it takes is tuppence from you

Feed the birds, tuppence a bag,Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag"Feed the birds, " that's what she criesWhile overhead, her birds fill the skies...

Oh isn't that lovely. Remember Mary Poppins the first time round and Jane and Michael feeding the birds.

Tuppence... TUPPENCE??

I think we might have spent more on bird food than our own food this winter. In fact we've turned from 'everyday' bird feeders into 'fanatical' bird feeders who think nothing of carting home 150 fat balls and a sack of nyjer seed.

'Oooh, our goldfinches will love those...'

Our delight at a box of lard-filled coconut shells is beyond compare..

The discovery of suet rolls second only to finding the holders on special offer...

'Bet that'll get the woodpecker in...'

And it did.

And what a delight and a therapy watching the birds has become through the winter months, when it's so easy to think all is grey and dismal out there and there's nothing to look at.

It was the Gamekeeper who started it back in the summer. Always a keen birdwatcher he scaled up his feeders to industrial proportions when he was incapacitated with the broken leg. He is of course an expert on 'feeding birds' and his cottage is in an ideal location overlooking the Tavy-Tamar estuary, so we all sat back and spent many a happy hour enjoying the views and watching hundreds of birds flock in. He bought me feeders and a stock of bird food for my birthday last September and we haven't looked back since. Eschewing the usual arrangements Bookhound created an 'installation' from a branch in front of the kitchen window...

While I adorned the viburnum tree in the back garden, and the jury's still out as to whose arrangement gets the most hits. There is some inter-family competition too, so images like this are regularly sent via WhatsApp to the Gamekeeper...

And I gave him some suet-filled coconuts for Christmas. He was delighted.

Essential to the smooth-running of the operation is to turf Magnus out at night as usual to wear himself out chasing things in the dark. Welcoming him back with a huge plate of delectable food in the morning and then easing his path to his fleece-lined-draught-proof-cushioned-prince-and-the-pea basket on the sunny kitchen windowsill, ensures he's out for the count until dusk. It all goes wrong if for any reason he sneaks a night indoors thus turning his feline circadian rhythms into turmoil and he's on the look out under the bird feeders all day.

Comments

Early each day to the steps of Saint Paul'sThe little old bird woman comesIn her own special way to the people she callsCome, buy my bags full of crumbs

Come feed the little birds, show them you careAnd you'll be glad if you doTheir young ones are hungryTheir nests are so bareAll it takes is tuppence from you

Feed the birds, tuppence a bag,Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag"Feed the birds, " that's what she criesWhile overhead, her birds fill the skies...

Oh isn't that lovely. Remember Mary Poppins the first time round and Jane and Michael feeding the birds.

Tuppence... TUPPENCE??

I think we might have spent more on bird food than our own food this winter. In fact we've turned from 'everyday' bird feeders into 'fanatical' bird feeders who think nothing of carting home 150 fat balls and a sack of nyjer seed.

'Oooh, our goldfinches will love those...'

Our delight at a box of lard-filled coconut shells is beyond compare..

The discovery of suet rolls second only to finding the holders on special offer...

'Bet that'll get the woodpecker in...'

And it did.

And what a delight and a therapy watching the birds has become through the winter months, when it's so easy to think all is grey and dismal out there and there's nothing to look at.

It was the Gamekeeper who started it back in the summer. Always a keen birdwatcher he scaled up his feeders to industrial proportions when he was incapacitated with the broken leg. He is of course an expert on 'feeding birds' and his cottage is in an ideal location overlooking the Tavy-Tamar estuary, so we all sat back and spent many a happy hour enjoying the views and watching hundreds of birds flock in. He bought me feeders and a stock of bird food for my birthday last September and we haven't looked back since. Eschewing the usual arrangements Bookhound created an 'installation' from a branch in front of the kitchen window...

While I adorned the viburnum tree in the back garden, and the jury's still out as to whose arrangement gets the most hits. There is some inter-family competition too, so images like this are regularly sent via WhatsApp to the Gamekeeper...

And I gave him some suet-filled coconuts for Christmas. He was delighted.

Essential to the smooth-running of the operation is to turf Magnus out at night as usual to wear himself out chasing things in the dark. Welcoming him back with a huge plate of delectable food in the morning and then easing his path to his fleece-lined-draught-proof-cushioned-prince-and-the-pea basket on the sunny kitchen windowsill, ensures he's out for the count until dusk. It all goes wrong if for any reason he sneaks a night indoors thus turning his feline circadian rhythms into turmoil and he's on the look out under the bird feeders all day.

Constants...

Team Tolstoy

Team TolstoyA year-long shared read of War & Peace through the centenary year of Count Lyev Nikolayevich Tolstoy's death, starting on his birthday, September 9th 2010.
Everyone is welcome to board the troika and read along, meeting here on the 9th of every month to chat in comments about the book.

Team Tolstoy BookmarkDon't know your Bolkonskys from your Rostovs?
An aide memoire that can be niftily printed and laminated into a double-sided bookmark.

Port Eliot Festival

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